Govt Issued Advisory against Advertisement on Online Betting And Gaming

In most parts of the country, betting and gambling are prohibited, posing a considerable financial and socio-economic danger to users. The government has issued an alert to print, electronic, and digital media asking them to avoid running advertisements for online betting services.

A lot of advertising for online betting websites/platforms has appeared in print, electronic, social, and online media, prompting the alert.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory to private satellite TV channels (copy enclosed) urging them to follow the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) guidelines on online gaming advertisements, which included specific Do’s and Don’ts for static/print and audio-visual advertisements.

This Ministry has recently been aware of a number of advertisements for online betting websites/platforms in print, electronic, social, and online media.

Betting and gambling are banned in most regions of the country, and there have been concerns that internet betting advertisements promote an activity that is largely prohibited and offers a considerable financial and socio-economic danger to customers, particularly youth and children.

Moreover, advertisements for online betting appear to be deceptive and do not appear to be in strict compliance with the Consumer Protection Act 2019, the Advertising Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, and advertisement norms under the Norms of Journalistic Conduct laid down by the Press Council of India under the Press Council Act, 1978, a reference to which has also been made in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media E-Commerce) Regulation Act, 2018.

In view of the foregoing, and in light of the broader public interest at stake, print and electronic media should refrain from publishing advertisements for online betting platforms. It is urged that such advertisements not be displayed in India or targeted to an Indian audience on the internet and social media, including online advertisement intermediates and publishers.